ARCH? '<S 
MISSIONARY RESEAivd LIBRARY 


THE PREPARATION OF 


WOMEN FOR FOREIGN 
MISSIONARY SERVICE 


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Reverend James L. Barton, D.D. 
Professor Harlan P. Beach, D.D. 
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Professor O. E. Brown, D.D. 
Professor Ernest DeWitt Burton, D.D. 
Miss Helen B. Calder 

Professor Edward W. Capen, Ph.D. 
Professor W. O. Carver, D.D. 
Reverend Wm. I. Chamberlain, Ph.D. 
Reverend George Drach 

Reverend James Endicott, D.D. 
Professor Daniel J. Fleming, Ph.D. 
Dean H. E. W. Fosbroke, D.D. 

Miss Margaret E. Hodge 

President Henry C. King, D.D. 
Professor Walter L. Lingle, D.D. 
Right Reverend Arthur S. Lloyd, D.D. 
Reverend R. P. Mackay, D.D. 
President W. Douglas Mackenzie, D.D. 
Professor Paul Monroe, Ph.D. 

John R. Mott, LL.D. 

Reverend Frank Mason North, D.D. 
Principal T. R. O’Meara, D.D. 
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Professor T. H. P. Sailer, Ph.D. 

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Robert E. Speer, D.D. 

President J. Ross Stevenson, D.D. 
Fennell P. Turner 

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ARCHIF. 5 


MISSIONARY RESEARCH LIBRARY 


ijk 6 a 


/ 


~j ume 19 


THE PREPARATION OF WOMEN FOR 
FOREIGN MISSIONARY SERVICE 


THE REPORT OF A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY 
THE BOARD OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION 


Miss HELEN B. Caper, Chairman 
Mrs. ANNA R. ATWATER 

Miss BELLE BENNETT 

PROFESSOR EDwarp W. CAPEN, PuH.D. 
DEACONESS HENRIETTA R. GOODWIN 
REVEREND FRED P. HAGGARD, D.D. 
Mrs. MAry LABAREE PLATT 

Mrs. WILLIAM F. McDowELuL 
PRINCIPAL T. R. O’MEARA, D.D. 
REVEREND CorRNELIUS H. Patton, D.D. 
Mrs. W. E. Ross 

Mrs. H. G. SAFFORD 

Miss UNA SAUNDERS 

PRESIDENT ADDIE GRACE WARDLE, PH.D. 
PRESIDENT Mary E. Woo ..ey, Litt.D. 





PRESENTED AT THE THIRD ANNUAL MEETING IN 

KANSAS CITY, MO., JANUARY, 1914, PUBLISHED IN 

THE THIRD ANNUAL VOLUME OF THE PUBLICA- 

TIONS OF THE BOARD, AND REPRINTED NOVEM- 
BER, 1916, AFTER CAREFUL REVISION 


Board of Missionary Preparation 
25 Madison Avenue, New York City 





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ARCHIV=S 
WASSIONARY RESEARCH LIBRARY 


THE PREPARATION OF WOMEN FOR FOREIGN 
MISSIONARY SERVICE 


The following report was. prepared by a committee of the Board of 
Missionary Preparation of which Miss Helen B. Calder, Home Secretary 
of the Woman’s Board of Missions, Boston, Mass., was the chairman. 
Since its presentation to the Board in 1914 the report has been sent for 
careful review to a large and representative group of women in North 
America and throughout the mission world, in order that it might receive 
the full benefit of their experience. Their valued suggestions have been 
embodied in this revised form of the report issued as a pamphlet. The 
Board ventures to hope that it now represents the conclusions of. the 
thoughtful students of the missionary enterprise. 


The young woman who has formed the “purpose, if God 
permit, to become a foreign missionary” looks forward more 
or less definitely to the time when she shall receive appoint- 
ment from her Board to a particular work in a designated 
mission. At the time when she first reaches a decision con- 
cerning her life-work, and many times during the years of 
preparation, she asks herself and others the question— 
“What shall I do to prepare myself for efficient service ?”’ 
It is the purpose of this report and of others in the same 
- series to answer that question in a definite, helpful way. 
About one hundred missionaries, Board secretaries, and pro- 
fessors in training schools have sent replies to a list of ques- 
tions covering the main points in this paper. The report of 
the Continuation Committee Conferences of 1912 and 1913, 
held in several mission fields during Dr. Mott’s tour, brings 
very clear additional recommendations. 


To prevent discouragement at the outset, we would remind 
all prospective missionaries that lines of preparation out- 
lined or suggested here are not like an itinerary which must 
be followed in detail by every traveler in a personally con- 
ducted tour, but rather like the announcements of many 
delightful excursions, one or more of which should be se- 


3 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


lected and followed as inclination and opportunity permit. 
In presenting the report we have in mind primarily the 
young woman who volunteers for foreign missionary service 
before she has completed her college course, and who has 
several years for further preparation before she is old 
enough to be accepted by her Board. We recognize the in- 
valuable service which has been, and, we trust, will continue 
to be rendered, by many women whose decision to engage in 
this work comes when they are older and who are obliged to 
start for the field at once in order to begin the study of the 
language. Many such workers will already be well prepared 
along some lines suggested in this report and it is hoped they 
will find help here in planning the most profitable use of the 
months intervening before their work begins and of the 
spare time for study on the field. 

There is a wide difference of opinion concerning age limits 
which should be fixed, twenty and fifty years being the two 
extremes, but practical unanimity in the feeling that excep- 
tions should be permitted if any limits are stated. The aver- 
age of about one hundred replies indicates that between 
twenty-five and thirty is the best time to begin work. Many 
missionaries referred to unusual service rendered by women 
much older, some of whom never mastered the language of 
the mission field. Miss Charlotte Tucker, who wrote books 
under the name A. L. O. E., went to India at the age of fifty- 
four, learned three languages, and gave eighteen years of 
devoted service. No one can deny that such workers are 
called of God, but under ordinary circumstances mission 
Boards should not be expected to assume their support. 


TIMELINESS OF THE SUBJECT 


One reason for the consideration of this subject is the 
request frequently made by Student Volunteers for definite 
advice as to the best use of the years of preparation. In the 
second place there is a general longing on the part of mis- 


4 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


sionaries consulted in the preparation of this report, whose 
terms of service vary from six to forty-six years, for a 
higher standard of preparation for missionaries of the fu- 
ture than they themselves were able to attain. Many who 
replied to our questionnaire expressed their deep satisfaction 
that this investigation was being made and their eager antic- 
ipation of the publishing of this report. They realize that 
the success of the work from the human side depends more 
upon the choice and preparation of workers than upon any- 
thing else. 


There is a third and a most important reason for giving 
earnest thought to this question. Changing conditions in 
the Orient make an insistent demand upon us which we are 
compelled to face squarely. The women’s movement is not 
simply a Western force to be reckoned with by Christian 
nations. It is making itself felt more and more strongly in 
the East in manifold ways, both for good and for evil. 
Western education and civilization, with and without Chris- 
tianity, have carried to many parts of the East social, indus- 
trial, moral, intellectual and spiritual disturbances which are 
perplexing serious thinkers at home. The awakening wo- 
manhood of the world is seeking for Western education, and 
at the same time is demanding a freedom which is but half 
understood. Governments of the East are trying with vary- 
ing success to supply the demand for education. In Japan 
the government schools for girls are better equipped and 
have a larger number of specially trained teachers than most 
mission schools of the same grade. Our missionary Socie- 
ties must send out a larger number of specially trained 
women in order to increase the quality and the quantity of 
educational missionary work, for it is only Christian educa- 
tion of the highest type that can counteract the forces of 
evil liberated by the impact of the West and the East. The 
success of Christian education is one of the causes of present 
conditions, and further successes, which will be achieved if 


5 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


an advance movement is made possible at this time of crisis, 
will solve many of the problems which we are facing to-day. 


FORMS OF SERVICE OPEN TO WOMEN 


The work done by women missionaries may be broadly 
classified as evangelistic, educational, medical, social and 
literary. Some women are doing work along all of these 
lines, and only a most exceptional missionary is confined 
exclusively to one form of service. 


It is very difficult for anyone who has not visited and 
studied mission fields to get a correct impression of the life 
and work of the average missionary. In public addresses 
the missionary on furlough very naturally emphasizes the 
unique features of her work and the strategic opportunities 
for advancement. The student of missionary text-books 
likewise singles out the strange and unusual and can very 
easily get a wrong perspective. The daily round and com- 
mon task describes a large section of the missionary’s life as 
well as that of the average home worker. There is the 
heroic, the romantic, the pioneering, the exceptional in large 
measure; but often those who are passing through such ex- 
periences do not recognize them as extraordinary. 


A young missionary in China cautions those who follow 
her to prepare for disillusionment at this point: 


“The new missionary is often in the position of the soldier 
who has always drilled to the band during his time of prepara- 
tion, with the vision of great generals ever before his mind, and 
then goes to live in the trenches and sees only other men like 
himself for months at a time.” 


Another worker in Brazil writes in the same strain: 


“The intending candidates cannot have too high an ideal of 
the work they are to do, but they should remember that the 
average missionary is what we might call the ordinary worker. 
The great majority will have to take up the work that others 
have started, join in with plans already made and be one of a 


6 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


large number of workers. New workers do not find much of 
the romance of missions,—the breaking of new ground and the 
starting of new enterprises,—which occupies so large a place in 
the thought of all young missionaries.” 
But having expressed these cautions it is only fair to re- 
mind the missionary in training that the work is always as 
big as the worker. 


EvANGELISTIC. While all successful missionaries keep 
the evangelistic aim foremost in every department, a large 
number are called to work that is classified as distinctly 
evangelistic. Under this head fall the important tasks of 
training and supervising the large army of Bible women, 
visiting in homes, conducting country tours, etc. In view 
of the vast number of women still untouched by the gospel 
message and the vital relation of the condition of women 
to the strength of the Christian church of the future, there 
is an urgent call for an increase in the force of evangelistic 
missionaries. These should go out prepared to train a still 
larger number of women for more efficient service as evan- 
gelists, and by their lives of devotion should stimulate the 
voluntary ministry of humble Christian women. 


EDUCATIONAL. The educational missionary occupies a 
strategic position in this time of unprecedented opportunity. 
She may be college president or professor, principal or asso- 
ciate teacher in a girls’ boarding-school, superintendent of 
a normal department which supplies teachers for elementary 
and higher schools, supervisor of day schools in a large dis- 
trict, kindergartner or trainer of kindergartners. The need 
of missionary schools and colleges was never greater. The 
union women’s colleges already started in Madras, India, 
and in Nanking and Peking, China, are calling for teachers 
qualified to serve as college professors and also to do pioneer 
work in higher education for women in the Orient. The 
openings in these and similar institutions, which will speedily 
be established as the demand for higher education spreads, 


7 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


constitute a call for the highest standard of preparation. 
The report of the Continuation Committee Conferences in 
India includes a statement of the need of constructive work 
in devising a system of primary education better suited to 
the needs of India than the present system. Such adaptation 
of Western principles and methods to Eastern minds and 
customs is demanded in every country and requires well- 
trained original leaders. 


MepicaL. The doctor and the nurse, with or without 
their hospital, have brought the gospel message to large 
numbers of people who, on account of advanced age or hin- 
dering circumstances, are unreached by educational work; 
they have procured entrance again and again for the evan- 
gelist and the educational worker; they have brought medi- 
cal aid for the first time to women who would rather have 
died than admit a man physician; they have had the large 
and inspiring task of raising up trained associates on the 
field who will multiply their ministrations by geometrical 
progression. Openings for the medical missionary are more 
numerous and more attractive than ever before. More 
workers are needed to provide an adequate staff for existing 
hospitals and to enter untouched fields, and doctors and 
nurses of unusual ability are called for to share in plans for 
union medical work outlined by the Continuation Committee 
Conferences. 


There is an increasing demand for teachers of physical 
education in mission and government schools and in Young 
Women’s Christian Associations. 


SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL. A social worker has been de- 
fined as “one who puts himself in a place where social cur- 
rents converge against him.” In thousands of such places 
women missionaries have established homes which are most 
truly social settlements, working in countless ways, direct 
and indirect, for the transformation of communities. The 


8 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


time has come for the organization of forces for child-wel- 
fare work, for the investigation and transformation of phys- 
ical and moral conditions of girls and women in factories, 
for temperance and Red Cross work, for hospital social serv- 
ice and for the many other reform movements affecting the 
physical, moral and spiritual well-being of women and 
children. 

Massacres and famines and changing industrial condi- 
tions have made necessary the establishment of various in- 
dustries which must be supervised by missionary women. 
Missionaries in charge of this branch of work have displayed 
much ingenuity in inventing designs and in finding profitable 
markets for laces and embroideries, and have rendered real 
service by preserving and dignifying the arts and crafts of 
the people and by the democratic teaching of the gospel of 
labor. 


LITERARY. Text-books and other suitable reading matter, 
either in translation or specially written to meet peculiar 
needs, have to be provided and the missionary woman, with 
or without special ability or training, has had to add this to 
her already full schedule. Reports of the Continuation 
Committee Conferences enumerate many classes of litera- 
ture for women needed at the present time. These include 
books and leaflets on Bible study suitable for all ages and 
intellects, short stories for women and children, simple ar- 
ticles on sanitation, hygiene, care of children, and other sub- 
jects related to the work of women in the home. A young 
woman with literary ability must surely look forward with 
pleasure to the time when she may have a share in bringing 
some of the fullness of the West into the empty lives of 
Eastern women. 

THe WorkK OF THE MarrIeED WoMAN. The missionary 
wife and mother, while often engaged directly in one or more 
of the forms of service mentioned above, is first of all a 
social power through her home. One missionary writes: 


9 2 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


“The missionary home has not received due notice as a mis- 
sion agency. Those who are planning to go out as married 
women should be impressed with the importance of their peculiar 
sphere and not fall into the error of regarding their position as 
inferior in its possibilities or responsibilities.” 

It is even more important on the mission field than at 
home that the married woman should “look well to the ways 
of her household.” The health and happiness of her family, 
the husbanding of the slender income, the influence of her 
home on the community, all demand thorough training in 
the science and art of home-making. Frequently the mis- 
sionary mother must teach her own children, preparing 
them to enter the high school in the homeland. By example 
and precept she assists her neighbors in the care and train- 
ing of their children. She keeps open house for the tired, 
homeless missionaries. Whenever she realizes the greatness 
of her opportunity and is able to seize it she makes an in- 
valuable contribution to the life and work of the station. 


THE PLACE OF SPECIALIZATION 


A doctor from China writes: “The time has come in the 
large cities of China at any rate, when specialists in all 
branches are needed if Christian institutions are to keep 
abreast of Government ones. But there certainly is plenty 
for thoroughly consecrated, intelligent people, not so highly 
trained, to do in pioneer work in less accessible places.” 
Even in pioneer work in some countries, however, the speci- 
ally trained missionary can do more effective work than one 
not so well prepared. This is the testimony of a missionary 
of long experience in the interior of Africa: 

“The missionary cannot be too well prepared. The more de- 
graded and ignorant the people, the greater the need of superior 
culture and attainments on the part of the missionary. It must 
be less difficult to guide the ‘awakening womanhood of the 
Orient’ than to arouse the dormant womanhood of our dark 
sisters in Africa, who for centuries have been practically the 
slaves of fathers, brothers and husbands.” 


10 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


A common criticism of the specialist is that she is unwill- 
ing to adapt herself to emergencies. The new missionary, 
specially trained and appointed for a particular task, may 
nevertheless be called upon to do certain things not directly 
connected with that task. She may even be asked to doa 
different piece of work, possibly in another station, for which 
she is not so well prepared, but which at the time is more in 
need of reinforcement. Any special training which makes 
her lose sight of the work as a whole or which makes more 
difficult for her the inevitable readjustments will be a 
hindrance rather than a help. But surely these things are 
a failure in spirit and not a necessary result of definite 
preparation. 


FUNDAMENTAL QUALIFICATIONS 


The fundamental qualifications of the foreign missionary 
are fully treated in another report, which should be carefully 
read by every Student Volunteer.. The missionary must 
spend her life under abnormal conditions, but in order to do 
her most successful work she must, even there, be able to 
live a normal Christian life. To this end she must be pre- 
pared spiritually, intellectually, physically, socially, and in 
practical ways. Among the qualifications mentioned by mis- 
sionaries who have contributed to this report are the follow- 
ing: Consecration, vision, self-control, common sense, ex- 
ecutive ability, adaptability, tact, freedom from professional 
attitudes, humility, patience, unfailing cheerfulness, genuine 
love for people, courtesy, courage and thoroughness. It 
must not be thought that any one person is expected to com- 
bine all these qualities. Moreover, the candidate is not the 
best judge of her own abilities. She must remember that 
the final responsibility for decision rests with her Board. 


Though one who possessed all the above qualifications 


1The report in question is published by the Student Volunteer Movement in 
pamphlet form, price 5 cents. 


11 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


would surely be the ideal missionary in her relation with 
other people, it will be well, because of the frequent refer- 
ence to it and the great stress laid upon it, to mention as an 
indispensable qualification tested ability to live and work 
well with others. One missionary claims that “cantanker- 
ousness is worse than-heterodoxy.” Another writes: 


“The question of adjustments and of making homes for single 
women is most difficult and yet their usefulness is almost wholly 
dependent on their being thus happily located. Those who can 
most readily adapt themselves to their new environment and 
make themselves happy even under discouraging surroundings 
and with people of uncongenial temperaments, are apt to be the 
most successful missionaries. If they can only hold out patiently 
for a while they will find their place sooner or later. It is all 
important that the young missionary should do team work and 
not feel that she has come to the field to do a work of her own, 
without reference to those about her.” 


SPIRITUAL PREPARATION 


CULTIVATION OF THE SPIRITUAL LiFE. Through all the 
days and months when the prospective missionary is seeking 
to fit herself for her great task, as well as throughout the 
crowded years of missionary service, the most important, 
absolutely fundamental preparation is one which is at the 
disposal of every Christian. By determined effort which 
will not permit interruptions the worker, before and after 
reaching the mission field, must find some time each day for 
communion with God through Bible study and prayer. In 
this way she may secure some systematic knowledge of 
Bible truth, even though she is not able to study at a Bible 
school, for her devotional study should be as thorough as 
her preparation for class-room work. But it is far more 
important that in these moments when her soul is shut in 
with God she should seek to receive the inspiration for all 
her living at first hand and not to depend upon the faith of 
other Christians or on outside sources of uplift from which 


12 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


she will be largely cut off on the mission field. One mission- 
ary writes: ‘The only cure for loneliness is the ability to 
commune with God, anywhere, under any conditions.” An- 
other, a young missionary from the interior of Africa, bears 
this testimony: “Her religion will be tested on the field by 
many things which do not arise in the homeland, but if she 
is sure of her God these tests will strengthen her.” She 
should learn to put off all petty cares and heavy burdens and 
to bring to her all-loving Father her failures of weakness 
and her sins of selfishness, receiving from Him forgiveness 
for all that has been wrong, a new spirit of loving charitable- 
ness toward her fellow workers, and strength sufficient for 
the tasks that must be done. 


The friend of God will go forth from such communion in 
a spirit of reverence towards God’s Word and towards His 
holy places. She will “handle aright the Word,” not using 
it for the flippant joke which comes so easily to the lips of 
some professing Christians. One missionary writes from 
Japan: “I have heard it said that the tendency of the present 
Christian teaching has been to destroy the old reverent feel- 
ings, putting intellectual exercises in their place. We can- 
not fulfil our supremely holy mission without deep, intense 
reverence.” 


Tue MINIstry OF INTERCESSION. In addition to personal 
Bible study the prospective missionary will wish to associate 
herself with others in church and college Christian Associ- 
ation classes who are engaged in a devotional study of the 
Bible. She should also be connected with groups studying 
the great missionary enterprise. Through such study she 
will become familiar with the lives of great missionaries, with 
the mighty achievements of the past, with the wonderful op- 
portunities of the present and with the great need of the non- 
Christian world for Christ. She should be made aware from 
her study of the Bible teachings concerning prayer and from 


13 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


the accounts of miracles wrought by prayer on the mission 
fields that she can and must share largely in the extension of 
the Kingdom, during her days of preparation and in all 
her missionary life, through the ministry of intercession. 
The use of the prayer calendar of her own mission Board 
and of the prayer cycle of the Student Volunteer Movement 
will help to make her prayers definite and world-embracing. 
Such prayer for others will keep her spiritual life from being 
self-centered, will bring rich personal blessings which can 
come in no other way, and will work far more mightily than 
she can understand. 


PERSONAL Work. The true Christian, herself possessed 
of the chief good, will seek constantly to share with every- 
one whose life she touches the joy and peace and power 
which are hers. We call this “personal work,” but we 
greatly err if we consider it a distinctive feature of the life 
of a foreign missionary. The worker who has not shared 
her Christianity by daily testimony of deed and word in 
this country cannot be a successful missionary. In home, 
in church, in student and social centres, the true missionary 
will be laying foundations for future usefulness. She will 
do this work not because it must be done as a preparation for 
her future service, but because as a Christian she cannot do 
otherwise. It is, however, an absolutely necessary prepara- 
tion. In this work of winning others to Christ the prayer 
of intercession is the greatest power. It is useless to attempt 
such work at home or on the mission field unless we realize 
that of ourselves we can do nothing, but that we can do all 
things through Him who strengthens us. Before going to 
the field the missionary must be so deeply impressed with 
the supreme importance of personal work and of the abso- 
lute necessity for a life of intercession to accomplish her 
task, that the multitude of routine duties which are likely to 
press upon her when she reaches the field will not choke out 
this great passion. 


14 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


A missionary from China writes: 


“If the young woman has not loved souls and tried to win 
them at home she is hardly sure of a call to the foreign field. 
Nothing here puts that love into one. It must be God’s gift be- 
fore she comes.” 


Another adds: 


“Unless one has had some experience in definitely influencing 
others for Christ she cannot be said to be equipped for mission- 
ary work, no matter how full her equipment may be in other 
directions.” 

SUMMER CONFERENCES. A great many young women 
have decided to become missionaries as a result of attendance 
at summer conferences. The student summer conferences 
of the Young Women’s Christian Association furnish rare 
opportunities to the undergraduate for deepening her 
spiritual life, for facing college problems, and for learning 
more of the kingdom of God. After college days, the 
prospective missionary who is free for part of the summer 
months will receive still further inspiration and practical 
training by attending a conference of the city department 
of the Young Women’s Christian Association, of the Mis- 
sionary Education Movement, or of the Women’s Boards 
of Foreign Missions. 


INTELLECTUAL PREPARATION 


CoLLEGE Course. A good college aims to give to every 
student “breadth of outlook, deepening responsibility and 
power to achieve.” Some college graduates fail to meet 
this test of the educated woman and some women without 
a college education have in other ways achieved these 
qualities. It is safe to say that a college education or its 
equivalent should be required of every woman. Eastern 
people lay great stress on the value of education, and the 
possession of a college degree adds to the missionary’s in- 
fluence in some countries. Trained minds are essential for 
constructive work in any land. 


15 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


An important acquisition for any college woman, but 
imperative for the successful missionary who should be a 
student all her life, is the scholarly habit, which may be 
developed by one who strives to do faithfully all her aca- 
demic work. The habit of concentration, much more 
easily learned before leaving college than at any later time, 
will enable the future missionary to do far more in a day, 
with much less expenditure of energy, than she could do 
without it. She should be a student of current events, 
learning to take large national and social views of all hap- 
penings, so that when she reaches the field she may see her 
work in its larger relations and not be concerned simply 
with what goes on before her eyes. 

During her four years in college a prospective missionary 
should get an all-round cultural course, not specializing 
too much in one subject. The following subjects are sug- 
gested as majors: Psychology, education, sociology, history, 
sciences, languages, English and general literature. Where 
the courses offered are constructive and thorough, the candi- 
date may lay strong foundations for Christian service by 
choosing Biblical history and literature as a major. 

Those who have been designated to a specialized work 
in higher education will gain much from postgraduate 
study along the lines of their specialties, not because they 
are likely to be called upon at present to teach these higher 
courses but for the enrichment of their own knowledge. 


NoRMAL TRAINING. Practically every missionary is re- 
quired to do educational work and to train leaders, and up 
to the present time few have had adequate preparation for 
this work. One missionary writes: “No distinction should 
be made between the training for evangelistic and educational 
work. Evangelization is Christian education.” Some normal 
training therefore is a valuable asset for all educational and 
evangelistic workers. It is not well to specialize too much 
in this training. A kindergartner should be familiar with 


16 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


primary methods and able to train primary and kindergarten 
teachers. All who are able to secure a normal training 
should remember that they are not simply learning how to 
teach but how to train teachers. A full course in a normal 
school or teachers’ college of high grade will be the equivalent 
of a college course for some women who are not able to have 
both. A year of normal training or of the special study of 
education and related subjects will be a valuable addition to 
a regular college course. 


MEDICAL TRAINING. Young women who are planning to 
become physicians should have at least two years in college 
and then take the full course in a medical college of the first 
rank. This should be followed by at least one year as interne 
in a general hospital, with experience in outdoor calls in 
connection with dispensary or ambulance service. Physicians 
should specialize in children’s and women’s diseases, diseases 
of the eye and in surgery. A short course in tropical medi- 
cine is indispensable, even if one does not go to a strictly 
tropical climate. Nurses should bear in mind the importance 
of preparing themselves to superintend a hospital and to 
train an efficient corps of nurses on the mission field. 


BIBLE TRAINING. Of supreme importance is a thorough 
knowledge of the Bible. The primary work of the mission- 
ary is “the application of the principles of Jesus to the prob- 
lems of life and the bringing of individuals into vital rela- 
tions to the Saviour and Master of men.” For such a task 
it is well to make as scholarly, devout and systematic a study 
of the Christian religion as possible. In addition to per- 
sonal daily study and work done in Sunday-school and 
Young Women’s Christian Association classes, a course at a 
Bible school, theological seminary or school of missions is 
invaluable. 

The length of time spent in such an institution would vary 
according to the age and previous training of the candidate. 
It should be long enough for her to secure a systematic 


17 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


knowledge of Christian truth. She should be able to work 
sympathetically with other Christians whose religious views 
differ very widely from her own. For this reason and be- 
cause she must be prepared to meet perplexing questions in 
the days to come she should at least have a sympathetic 
knowledge of the liberal views of the day and she should be 
well grounded in her own faith. 


A course in religious education might well be part of the 
Bible training. A married missionary writes: “Religious 
education seems to me to be the most necessary line of prepa- 
ration and perhaps the most neglected.” In educational, 
medical and evangelistic work a primary aim should be to 
teach the Bible and to train other women for this important 
service. If practical Christian work, supervised by experi- 
enced leaders, can be rendered during the days of training it 
will make for greater efficiency and will test the ability of the 
candidate. . 

Doctors and nurses whose professional courses are more 
specialized than those of other candidates would profit greatly 
by at least a year of Bible training. Many missionaries and 
Board officers feel that the demand for physicians is so urgent 
that they should not be detained for any special preparation. 
It is generally admitted, however, that unless medical work 
has a distinctly evangelistic aim it does not make its rightful 
contribution to the missionary movement. Even though the 
doctor has little time for personal service as an evangelist 
she should be in closest touch with all such work done in the 
hospital. A nurse must be ready to lead in this work and she 
should have special preparation for it. A missionary phy- 
sician writes: “In spite of many demands upon them doctors 
and nurses must direct and take a personal share in the 
evangelistic work if their work is to be successful as an 
evangelistic agency.”” No one can speak the gospel message 
more effectively than the doctor or the nurse whose healing 
touch upon the body makes the soul responsive to the spiritual 


18 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


appeal. They should make every effort to acquire in this 
country “the tongue of them that are taught,” that in the 
moment of golden opportunity. they may know how to “sus- 
tain with words” those who are weary. 


SPECIAL MISSIONARY PREPARATION. Because of chang- 
ing conditions in the Orient, referred to earlier in this report, 
missionary experts on the field and at home are feeling very 
strongly the need of special professional training for one of 
the most difficult careers. Efforts have been made since the 
Edinburgh Conference to provide satisfactory preparation 
in such subjects as can best be studied in this country. Sub- 
jects included in this special preparation are the science and 
history of missions, religions of the world, sociology in its 
relation to modern missionary problems, and phonetics. 
Though the shortness of the time available for preparation 
makes it impossible to study thoroughly all these subjects, a 
short course under competent guidance will introduce one 
to them and give a scholarly foundation for future reading 
and research. Schools which provide courses of this kind 
also offer facilities for the special Bible training referred to 
in the preceding section. 

A general view of the growth and spread of Christianity 
and of modern missionary movements in their relation to 
world progress would give a true perspective and reduce the 
danger of falling into a rut whence one can see only the prob- 
lems of a particular station or mission. 

For sympathetic understanding of the people whom the 
missionary must love before she.can convert and for a real- 
ization of the incomparable purity and power of Christianity, 
the student in training must get an insight into the moral and 
spiritual teachings of non-Christian religions. She should 
note the strongest as well as the weakest points of the re- 
ligion of the people among whom she is to work, and should 
learn how she may carry the message of the woman’s Saviour 
to hearts now held in the bondage of superstition and fear. 


19 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


A study of sociology in a school of missions would help to 
an appreciation of the social problems which are perplexing 
the Orient. Many of these Western civilization has created 
and all of them Christianity is able to solve. 

When the student who is taking special missionary prepa- 
ration has already been appointed to a definite field she will 
do well to devote some time to special training for that 
country, getting at least an introduction to its history, re- 
ligion, literature and customs and the progress of missionary 
work. 

There is a wide difference of opinion regarding the value 
of language study before reaching the mission field. A 
candidate should be tested in some way as to her ability to 
learn another language. The experience of the last few 
years suggests that training in the best methods of language 
acquisition can be secured in this country and will prove 
helpful in studying any foreign language. At present the 
vernacular can be learned to best advantage on the field. 
This subject is treated more fully in another report. 

Schools of missions also offer courses in bookkeeping, 
business methods, domestic science, rudimentary nursing, 
and other practical subjects which are demanded by the needs 
of the day. 

A word of caution is suggested by the letters of several 
missionaries. All this special training will be of little value 
to the worker and the work if she goes to the field with an 
attitude of superiority and an unwillingness to take the testi- 
mony of those who have learned in the school of experience, 
even when the testimony seems to be at variance with her 
theories. She will have ample opportunity to test her theories 
without crippling her influence at the very beginning by a 
critical attitude towards those who have not had the same 
advantages which she has enjoyed. 


A wise missionary makes the following comment: 


“The life of the missionary is a most practical one with very 
20 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


little of romance. To be successful one must be willing to let 
all of her pet theories go to the wind, if she finds them ill- 
founded. Of course a great many of the theories formed at 
home are most valuable. It seems more and more true to me 
that new missionaries are apt to be guilty of one of two errors, 
and I hardly know which is most disastrous. One is to go to 
the field with well-defined ideas of how everything should be 
done and to insist upon putting those ideas into practice, no 
matter what advice may be given to the contrary. This has re- 
sulted in some very sad catastrophes. The other extreme is to 
take out some excellent plans, well thought out and useful, but 
upon reaching the field and finding that the missionaries who 
have preceded her are not following such methods, to relinquish 
her own schemes and fall into the ruts of those who have gone 
before. Probably we older missionaries are greatly to blame for 
this, as we may be too apt to think that our own tried plans are 
the final word on mission work. Wherever the fault lies it is 
deplorable that we frequently fail to benefit as we should by the 
coming of new blood into our midst. Perhaps it is time to send 
out a pamphlet to missionaries on the field showing us how to 
prepare the way for the newcomer!” 


Cuoice oF Institutions. In all that has been said re- 
garding the value of preparation in various institutions we 
have in mind those schools and colleges which are of high 
grade. A prospective missionary should consult the secretary 
of her Board and some expert educator concerning the in- 
stitutions which will best serve her purpose. In these days 
of unusual and indispensable cooperation in union move- 
ments on the field, the student of missions, while embracing 
every opportunity of becoming familiar with the work and 
workers of her own denomination, should also have the 
broadening experience of some interdenominational fellow- 
ship in the homeland. This may come through association 
with the students and professors of other denominations 
during college or postgraduate study, or through participa- 
tion in some of the many lines of interdenominational work 
now being carried on in this country. She will thus be better 


21 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


prepared to hasten the day when we shall all be one in the 
truest and highest unity. 


CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS. Some candidates are pre- 
vented by home obligations or by other circumstances from 
taking a residential course at a Bible or mission training 
school. If they possess trained minds and the determination 
to persevere in spite of interruptions, they may accomplish 
much by taking a regular correspondence course in one or 
more subjects. 


EXPENSE OF TRAINING. Many young women must earn 
the money necessary for their college or professional train- 
ing. If they are careful to obey the laws of health, even pro- 
longing the time for completing the course if necessary, they 
can do this without difficulty and thus increase their useful- 
ness in later years. There is no reason why they should not 
be as independent in their preparation as those who are fitting 
themselves for other forms of service. 

A few of our correspondents express their conviction that 
a Board would save money by supporting an accepted candi- 
date for a year in a school of missions, as it would thereby 
reduce the time which must elapse before she can wisely 
enter upon real work and at the same time greatly increase 
her efficiency. Some Boards do give scholarships or make 
special grants to medical students, and others provide loans 
for advanced training when it seems necessary and expedient 
to do so. In the case of an older candidate who might be de- 
tained for several years to pay off a debt it seems worth while 
for the Board to make some effort to render financial assis- 
tance. The hope is expressed that before long competitive 
scholarships will be established in connection with schools of 
missions. 


READING. During vacations and while busy with some 
regular occupation precious hours or even minutes may be 
found for reading. It would be a great mistake from the 


22 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


intellectual as well as the physical point of view to read only 
or largely missionary books. But some time can profitably 
be given to instructive and inspiring books of history and 
biography which give an insight into the great missionary 
movements and personalities of the past and present. A 
carefully selected bibliography is now at the disposal of 
every student. 

One who cannot arrange for a special course in a school 
of missions can get a fair knowledge of the subjects offered 
there by careful reading. The fields of history, psychology, 
pedagogy, or sociology may also be explored as time and in- 
clination permit. In this way the young woman who is not 
able to take a college course may get in part its cultural 
equivalent and the college student or graduate may supple- 
ment her academic work. Simple books on hygiene and first 
aid to the injured will furnish all that the ordinary mission- 
ary needs to know of these subjects. A wise reading along 
the line of the moral problems of the day will prepare her to 
answer questions which are sure to arise on the mission field, 
where she is very likely to be called upon to fill the place of a 
mother to girls under her care. One missionary recommends 
the magazine “American Motherhood” for this very reason. 


PHYSICAL PREPARATION 


Though this subject is of sufficient importance to be treated 
in a separate report, soon to be prepared, it will be well for 
the candidate reading this report to have her attention called 
to this phase of her missionary preparation. Not enough 
attention has been given in the past to the fact that by definite 
preparation along physical lines a candidate who might other- 
wise be disqualified can sometimes meet the standard of her 
Board. 


MeEpIcAL EXAMINATION. If a young woman who has de- 
cided to give her life to foreign missionary service has any 
reason for thinking she is physically below par in any par- 


23 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


ticular, she should have a thorough examination by a com- 
petent physician, even though it may be many years before 
she expects to sail for the field. The health blank prepared 
by her own Board will be a guide to the physician whom she 
consults. At this time and at the time of the examination re- 
quired by her Board she should be careful to give her phy- 
sician all the facts concerning her health record. 


CourRSsE IN First Arp. Several missionaries of experience 
recommend most strongly that all women candidates should 
have a course in the care of their health. Others suggest a 
short course in nursing and first aid, not simply because of 
the helpfulness of such knowledge in their work with others 
on the mission field, but also because of its value in their own 
daily living. 


DAILY ExercIsE. Perhaps the most important word that 
can be written on this subject, since the majority of candi- 
dates must be women of good constitution when they apply 
to their Boards, is to emphasize as strongly as possible the 
vital necessity of orderly living. A woman physician in 
China writes: 

“Do urge upon all candidates the importance of building up a 


strong physique and of training themselves to work in a natural 
way, physically as well as mentally and spiritually.” 


Another voices the advice of many when she says: 


“We need to emphasize the value, both physical and mental, 
of exercise and diversion of mind. Women are more apt to look 
at games from a pleasure standpoint alone than are men and 
breakdowns are often the result.” 


An older missionary adds this testimony: 


“Physical exercise is second only to the Morning Watch in 
importance.” 


The habit of daily exercise can better be acquired in college 
days and in the years before going to the field than after one 


24 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


is plunged into the work of language study or regular mis- 
sionary life. A missionary bishop wisely adds: 


“Plan for play time and use it well. Take it in daily doses if 
you can. Do not ‘take exercise.’ Hunt for fun and you will 
find it.” 


Tennis is distinctly a missionary game because it provides 
a large amount of exercise in a short space of time! 


Aw AvocaTIon. Next in importance to physical exercise 
in keeping outwardly at one’s best among trying surround- 
ings is to have an avocation—a fad, it may be called. Several 
missionaries write on this point. One says: 


“Never to be without some of the great biographies of litera- 
ture is a good rule; and to have a fad is good; photography, or 
botany, or ornithology, or something. Some think there is no 
time for such. But I would emphasize it. Some special object 
of study is a relief to the missionary personally and often opens 
doors for friendship with others outside the missionary circle.” 


Another writes on the same point: 


“It is both a privilege and a duty to have an avocation over 
which one can enthuse and to take time for it. It is very sad 
when a missionary gradually stifles the social side of her nature, 
under the pretext at first of not finding time. As a consequence 
health suffers, she loses in sweetness of spirit and too often be- 
comes morbid.” 


SocIAL PREPARATION 


SocIAL RELATIONS ON THE FIELD. No missionary is sent 
to work among “barbarians.” She may seem to the people 
in her new home a barbarian because of her (to them) un- 
couth, Western ways. But if she considers them as bar- 
barians or inferiors, as objects of pity, or “natives,” or “con- 
verts,” she can never hope to be a successful missionary. She 
must have a genius for friendship and learn to love the people 
personally, without the official attitude, and yet without too 
much familiarity. The importance of the social graces is 


25 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


well pointed out in the following extract from a letter of a 
Japanese missionary: 


“A great part of our work consists in making friends with 
women of all classes, in their homes and ours, in receiving 
guests, perhaps in large numbers, and in mingling with all kinds 
of people, in order to lead them to our Lord. We have to learn 
their etiquette, but that is not all. They soon find out whether, 
behind that, we have any natural courtesy of our own. The 
missionary’s manners are the first thing observed, and observed 
very closely, by steamer and railway travelers, shop people, 
servants, callers, the Christian congregation, and the great mass 
of unbelievers all around. Defects are apt to be seriously mis- 
construed, or else magnanimously condoned, as the unpleasing but 
inevitable attributes of the somewhat barbarian foreigner, who 
therefore cannot be considered a safe or admirable model for 
the women of the country to which she has come. On the other 
hand, where there is true love, peace, patience, forgetfulness of 
self, and the quiet, subtle sympathy which love teaches, the crud- 
est manners are wonderfully transformed until they ‘adorn the 
doctrine of God our Saviour.’ ” 


All will readily assent to the importance of conforming to 
the laws of etiquette in polite Japan. But it may not be so 
evident that even among most primitive peoples there is an 
established code of manners, and Christian courtesy is there- 
fore an essential of success in winning these people to Christ. 


A missionary from the interior of Africa writes: 


“It is to be regretted that some of our colleges and universi- 
ties do not give more training in the courtesies of social life. 
We send men and women abroad of high spiritual attainments, 
of great intellectual ability, who lose in influence because their 
attention has never been called to the importance of conforming 
to the best social usage.” 


In choosing her outfit the new missionary should consult 
with experienced workers from her future field. Styles ac- 
ceptable in one field might give offense in another country. 
Extreme styles will be out of place on any mission field. On 
the other hand, attractive clothes will give satisfaction to the 


26 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


wearer and to her American as well as her foreign friends. 
The missionary is not called to be an ascetic, but the “all- 
roundest person in the world,” and, while putting first things 
first, she can reach a larger circle both of the people in her 
new home and the other American and European residents 
or visitors in the community by paying due regard to her 
manner of living and dressing. If she is permanently or 
temporarily living in an isolated community with no oppor- 
tunity for association with people who would appreciate care- 
fulness in personal habits, she still owes it to her own self- 
respect and physical and mental well-being not to grow lax 
in these things. 


PREPARATION FOR THE NEW RELATIONSHIPS. The prepa- 
ration in the homeland required of the missionary who would 
measure up to the standards set forth in the previous para- 
graphs must have already suggested itself to the reader. It 
is a case of being rather than doing, and so it is rather diff- 
cult to outline a course of training. Since it is true that we 
become like what we admire, the candidate cannot do better 
than to stay as much as possible in the presence of those who 
come nearest to the ideal. The one who follows Christ most 
closely will most nearly measure up to His example of per- 
fect tact and sympathy. The prospective missionary will find 
it to her advantage to have as much experience as possible in 
the best Christian society. This will not fully prepare her to 
meet the exigencies of a different social standard, but it will 
be the best background for the study of the manners and 
customs of her new home, which will form part of her fur- 
ther social preparation during her time of language study on 
the field. To sum up in the words of a missionary in Persia: 

“As Americans represent our civilization as well as our Chris- 
tianity, everything that can help us to create a beautiful home of 


‘gracious hospitality, good manners, refined culture, comfort, 
sanitation and taste, should be our preparation.” 


Another report will soon be published treating this subject 
27 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


in more detail, possibly calling attention to some of the out- 
standing differences in Oriental standards of etiquette. 


VALUE OF INSTITUTIONAL TRAINING. The value of the 
years spent in college-and special training schools cannot be 
measured simply by the amount of knowledge acquired. The 
close contact with other people made necessary by dormitory 
life helps to wear off rough edges and to test one’s ability to 
live and work harmoniously with others. Officers of Boards 
which require of all candidates a year in a designated train- 
ing school testify to the importance of having such an op- 
portunity to weed out undesirable applicants and to become 
acquainted personally with students. 


A missionary bishop writes: 


“The shock to some of turning suddenly from home life to one 
with those of other families and other ideas ought to be met be- 
fore one is out on the foreign field. The training and the exper- 
lence gained in institutional life at home is helpful to the indi- 
vidual and sometimes to those with whom the individual has, 
later on, to live.” 


Friendships of college days, association with the inspiring 
personalities of the classroom, intimate fellowship with 
other workers in training who will soon be scattered to 
remote corners of this land and to lands afar—all this will 
be a rich heritage in the days to come. 


PRACTICAL PREPARATION 


PROFESSIONAL RELIGIOUS WorK. Practical experience as 
a professional religious worker is recommended by many 
missionaries, especially for the prospective evangelistic 
worker. Among the many forms of service mentioned is the 
work of pastor’s assistant, deaconess, city missionary, home 
missionary, settlement worker, Young Women’s Christian 
Association secretary and district nurse. Contact with for- 
eigners and experience in “roughing it” will give a little fore- 


28 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


taste of future tasks and will help the missionary in training 
to make sure that she has no antipathy for those of another 
race. Because she must be sure on this point before going 
to the field many missionaries recommend work in the United 
States with people from the chosen country, e. g., with Japa- 
nese or Chinese or Mexicans on the Pacific Coast. 


TEACHING. For all educational and evangelistic workers 
a few years of teaching in public schools, preferably in the 
foreign section of a large city under expert supervision, is 
invaluable. At the same time a careful study should be made, 
through reading and visitation, of school systems in this 
country. Western methods cannot be adopted wholesale by 
mission schools, but an intimate knowledge of these methods 
will help the educational missionary who may have a share 
in shaping the school system of a large territory. Such 
preparation will be of still more value if the teacher in this 
country, preparing for work abroad, will remember that life 
in a mission school has much of the monotony and drain on 
the nervous strength that she finds in the school at home. 
An educational missionary writes: 


“The majority of missionary teachers would make fewer errors 
and would not so easily grow discouraged had they the back- 
ground of experience in the homeland for comparison.” 


Most of the present day missionary work is not a romance 
but a daily routine of duty. The real teacher draws her 
inspiration not from novel surroundings or exciting experi- 
ences, but from the young lives which she is privileged to 
influence so greatly. 


VOLUNTEER SERVICE. The many activities of church life 
are calling loudly for leaders and no one should be more eager 
to serve than the young woman who is preparing for a life of 
service. A Sunday-school class of girls, organized if time 
permits into a club with weekday meetings, offers a unique 
opportunity for personal work. 


29 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


During college days the leadership of classes in Bible or 
mission study, while demanding much time out of a busy 
life, richly repays all the expenditure of time and strength. 
The prospective missionary, through these classes and 
through her every-day contact with young women, should be 
seeking to enlist other volunteers and to increase the number 
of intelligent, prayerful supporters of missions at home. 


KNOWLEDGE OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND Evits. Either as 
volunteer or professional workers or through intimate talks 
with Christian women physicians, social workers or mis- 
sionaries on furlough, candidates should become acquainted 
with the big social problems and the glaring social evils of 
the world. A missionary from India writes: 


“In every case women before coming to the field should have 
enough practical experience in philanthropic work to give them 
a knowledge of the world’s social evils. Many women who have 
lived entirely sheltered lives in the West have to face on the mis- 
sion field problems (e.g., impurity) of which they have never 
realized the significance before, and it is peculiarly difficult for 
such women to tackle the problem rightly.” 


Another adds: 


“Social hygiene demands attention. The non-Christian nations 
are festering physically with diseases due to social sin. It is 
little less than a crime to allow anyone to undertake work among 
them without knowing something of how to combat these 
diseases.” 


KNOWLEDGE OF THE BoarD. As soon as a young woman 
decides to become a foreign missionary she should write to 
the secretary of her Board, stating her present position and 
the time when she hopes to be ready to go to the field. A 
correspondence of great value to the prospective missionary 
and to the Board should follow. Officers of general and of 
women’s Boards are eager to help candidates in every way 
and will be able to give them profitable advice during the 
years or months of preparation. 


30 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


Because of the close relation between the woman mis- 
sionary and her home constituency an exact knowledge of the 
national and local organizations of her Society will insure a 
closer fellowship when she reaches her field of labor. One 
missionary testifies to the value of her experience in sharing 
the work of creating interest and raising funds. She should 
attend annual meetings when possible and she should read 
the monthly magazine and other publications. One of her 
duties after she reaches the mission field will be to interest 
the Church at home. She can do this much more successfully 
and with much less effort if she has established a personal 
relationship with home workers during her days of prepara- 
tion. Both older and younger people in the churches listen 
most intently to the one who cares so much that she has 
given her life to the work. A prospective missionary should 
seek out the officers of the woman’s organization in the 
church which she is attending and let them know of her 
special interest in their work. If no woman’s missionary 
society exists she may have the privilege of helping to or- 
ganize one. No extra time can be spared for this most valu- 
able work, yet it may be a helpful preparation by the way. 

CoRRESPONDENCE WITH Missionaries. If a missionary 
candidate does not count among her personal friends at 
least one woman missionary of experience, she may come in 
touch with such a worker through attendance at missionary 
meetings, through alumne records of her college, or through 
the secretary of her Board. As she becomes more familiar 
through study with the methods of work and the manner of 
life on the mission field she will discover many things con- 
cerning which she needs to have first-hand information. 
Correspondence with a missionary friend will be of great 
value and may prevent mistakes in the first years of her 
missionary life. 

Use oF VacaTions. In most institutions there is what 
amounts to one year of vacation during each four years of 


31 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


study. While part of this time should be spent in rest, there 
are many occupations which will prove recreative by furnish- 
ing a change of scene and labor. Even the young woman 
who must meet all her own expenses can choose ways of 
earning money which will add to her usefulness as a mis- 
sionary. Every prospective missionary should have some 
knowledge of housekeeping, learning enough of cooking to 
train servants in her missionary home to prepare healthful 
and appetizing meals. The married missionary of course 
needs this, but many other women find such knowledge 
equally valuable in making real homes for themselves and 
their coworkers and in supervising large boarding-schools. 
The student who learns how to make her own clothes and 
trim her own hats will not only reduce her expenses during 
her college days, but will gain renown as station dressmaker 
and milliner. Incidentally she might learn how to make 
simple repairs on her sewing machine! Even the bit of fancy 
work learned on a summer porch may win a welcome for the 
missionary and her message in the home and heart of some 
Oriental woman. Another valuable accomplishment is sug- 
gested in the following: “Every woman should learn, for her 
own comfort, at least, how to use effectively a hammer, saw, 
screw driver, and bitstock.” 


Most interesting and suggestive replies are given to the 
question—“What preparation would you now make for mis- 
sionary service if you were entering upon the work for the 
first time with your present knowledge of all that is de- 
manded?” One answer to this question shows how even our 
recreation may be a wayside preparation: “I would learn to 
play games with young people and children and cultivate the 
social side of my nature. Some mission stations are taking 
life so seriously that missionaries are likely to break down, 
because they do not know how to drop all cares for a few 
hours. I would learn to play tennis, to ride horseback, and 
to take and develop pictures.” 


32 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


Music. One missionary writes that he is not sure which 
ministry has been most effective in the field—his preaching 
or his wife’s singing. Any talent for music should certainly 
be cultivated, not simply for its value as an educative and 
evangelizing force, which is very great, but also for the 
pleasure which can thus be given to the missionary circle. 
One without special talent can learn to play hymns and 
will find many demands for that simple accomplishment. 
Missionary testimony is strong on the value of some musical 
training. One missionary says: 


“I know of no place in mission work where a knowledge of 
music, especially ability to play ordinary church music, is not 
greatly needed. Those who have not learned music are slowest 
to acquire the language. Some will say that to learn music one 
must have talent. This is not true. If one is unable to learn 
one instrument let her try another, but come prepared to make 
some sort of music!” 


EVENING CiassEs. Occasionally it may be possible and 
profitable, if the regular week’s program is not too full, to 
take up a few subjects in evening classes. A sufficient 
knowledge of bookkeeping for ordinary use can be secured 
in this way. Money sent to the mission field often represents 
sacrifice on the part of givers and should be carefully ex- 
pended. Most missionaries have to keep accounts which 
should be audited, and a knowledge of the elements of book- 
keeping would make this work easier. In the same way 
short courses in typewriting, nursing, domestic science, 
dressmaking, or millinery, might be taken. 


PREPARATION BY THE Way. The Apostle Paul furnishes 
a text for this section of our report when he admonishes us 
to “redeem the time.” The wayside ministries which are 
such an essential part of a missionary’s life are often the 
result of wayside preparation in the homeland. We are told 
that “if a thing is worth doing at all it is worth doing well.” 
These proverbs, if true anywhere, are for this country where 


33 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


specialists may be summoned by telephone from the next 
block. The mere mention of a few tasks which women mis- 
sionaries have been called upon to perform without special 
preparation suggests the value of even a little knowledge: 
nursing, filling teeth, laundry work, physical training, cata- 
loguing, proof-reading, bookkeeping, solo singing, repairing 
watches, mending engines, tuning pianos, drawing plans, 
laying out streets, staking out houses, superintending build- 
ing operations, hair-cutting, and overseeing the care of cows 
and horses! One missionary writes, “There is nothing 
worth knowing at all which will not be useful on the mission 
field.” Another makes the suggestion that a note-book 
should be kept so that the discovery of the moment will not 
be forgotten. This paragraph is inserted not to discourage 
any young woman who feels unable to do these things, but to 
suggest the value of going through the world with eyes that 
see and ears that hear, so that, while making careful prepar- 
ation for one form of missionary service, one’s whole life 
may be enriched through this preparation by the way. 

Because of the number of practical accomplishments enu- 
merated as useful to the future missionary it may be well 
to suggest the importance of a correct balance between the 
cultural and the practical lines of preparation. Though a 
few correspondents put the emphasis on the practical, sug- 
gesting that a thorough course in domestic science, e. g., 
should take precedence over common history or general 
science, more weighty testimony is along the line of the fol- 
lowing quotations: 

“The practical side one learns by doing, even through many 
difficulties, but the lack of inspirational training, scholarly habits 
and the ability to think large is most difficult to supplement on 
the field. These things seem to me a possession far more indis- 
pensable to the missionary than any amount of mere technical 
ability.” 

“A woman with a trained mind can learn to cook and keep 
house without taking courses in domestic science, though of 


3B 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


course such study is profitable. She can also learn much by 
reading regarding the care of children. My fear is that if women 
intending to be married are advised to take special preparation 
along these lines, they may use for it time that might better be 
employed in more cultural lines, and such a lack is hard to make 
up when one has arrived on the field.” 


THE PREPARATION OF THE MARRIED WOMAN 


All that has been said in the previous sections and in those 
which follow relates equally to the married and to the single 
woman missionary. It is hoped that one of the results of 
this report will be that the young woman who expects to go 
to the field as a bride, the young man with whom she goes, 
the sending Board and the missionaries on the field will have 
a higher idea than before of the place of the married woman, 
not simply as the wife of a missionary, but as a real mission- 
ary herself. This is the attitude taken by many missionaries 
and mission Boards but it is not yet universal, the result be- 
ing that not sufficient care is taken to scrutinize the papers 
of married women. Upon the mission field they have there- 
fore sometimes failed to contribute their share to the work 
of the mission. “The wife should be called of God as well 
as by her husband,” writes one missionary. Many of our 
correspondents on the field urge the same home prepara- 
tion for the married as for the single woman missionary. 
Many urge that she have the same general training as far 
as possible, and in addition that she should be asked to spe- 
cialize in domestic science, the care of the children, nursing, 
first aid and social service! One cannot be a specialist in 
so many directions, especially when the call to foreign ser- 
vice comes in many cases only a few months before she must 
start for the field. But many missionary wives and mothers 
without such special preparation in the homeland, but with 
a keen sense of their mission and of the need of their new 
neighbors, have been able to prepare themselves on the field 
for service of the highest value. They must give themselves 


35 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


with great determination, often under serious handicaps, to 
the study of the language during their first years on the field. 
Otherwise they cannot enter fully into the large opportuni- 
ties which will soon present themselves. In the report of 
the conference on the Preparation of Women for Missionary 
Service there is a valuable paper on this subject which should 
be read by every married woman on the mission field and by 
all who are looking forward to this sphere of service. 


PREPARATION OF THE Last S1tx MontTHs 


APPOINTMENT. The desire has been frequently expressed 
that candidates should know some time in advance the coun- 
try to which they will be appointed. This plan has many 
advantages, though it cannot always be carried out. Usu- 
ally a candidate does receive her appointment at least six ~ 
months before the time of sailing. Correspondence with her 
Board secretary will give definite information concerning the 
use of these last precious months in the homeland, but a few 
suggestions may be given here. 


Rest. If her preparation has been carried on without 
regular vacations the candidate should take some time for 
thorough rest. She should not depend upon the ocean voy- 
age for this, but should plan for a real vacation. Our cor- 
respondents state that doctors and nurses especially need this 
advice. Adjustments to new climatic conditions and separa- 
tions from old friends can be borne with less strain, if the 
missionary leaves for the field in good physical condition. 


FINAL TRAINING. There may be opportunity for a short 
course at a school of missions, when work may be taken with 
the definite field in mind. If this is not possible, the new mis-~ 
sionary may be able to read up on the history and customs 
of her designated field. Many Boards have an annual train- 
ing conference for new missionaries at which time important 
subjects are discussed. Board manuals for candidates and 
missionaries will give detailed information concerning final 


36 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


preparation. With the knowledge of the definite work she 
is to do clearly in mind, the new missionary may be able to 
visit schools, hospitals, or religious and philanthropic insti- 
tutions, studying methods with a view to future adaptation 
of the same to her particular task. 


THE APPEAL FOR SERVICE. The missionary under ap- 
pointment has a unique message to give and she can count 
upon an attentive audience. Her life is a challenge to other 
young people, and the last six months offer many opportuni- 
ties for her to state in the simplest language possible her 
reasons for going to the field and her joy in her chosen work. 
If time and strength permit, this preparation for service by 
appealing for the service of others has a far-reaching in- 
fluence. 


PREPARATION ON THE MISSION FIELD 


LANGUAGE ScHoots. It is generally conceded that the 
first two years of a missionary’s life on the field should be 
spent largely in study of the language. All her work in 
after years will be seriously crippled, if she does not lay a 
strong foundation at the very beginning. For the sake of 
the greatest efficiency efforts are being made to establish 
union language schools at central points in different coun- 
tries. At these schools provision is made for a scientific study 
of the language under expert teachers. This is the chief 
work of the school, but there is opportunity at the same time 
for instruction in the religions, social life and thought of 
the peoples, and for investigation of missionary work. Not 
all of the time set apart for language study should be spent 
in the language school. The new worker should proceed 
after a short course at the school to continue her study and 
practice of the vernacular in the station where her work is 
to lie. Temptations to plunge into active work will be strong, 
because older workers are carrying heavy burdens and long 
days of study may prove irksome, but the missionary who 


37 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


takes a long look ahead will realize how much depends on 
faithful concentration on the task of the hour. Where lan- 
guage schools have not yet been started older missionaries 
make the best arrangements possible to facilitate the ac- 
quirement of a working knowledge of the language. Each 
missionary has her own special teacher and countless oppor- 
tunities for practicing her limited vocabulary. For fuller 
treatment of this subject see the special report on language 
study. 


OPPORTUNITIES FOR FURTHER PREPARATION. The real 
student is a student all her life and the daily life of the mis- 
sionary should be a constant stimulus to further study. The 
language always demands attention and the study of it may 
extend over long years. The exigencies of the work may call . 
for a knowledge of some subject not studied before leaving 
home and the successful missionary makes time for the ac- 
quisition of the needed information. The religious and 
social life of the people among whom she works must be 
understood if she is to present the Christian message most 
tactfully. So by reading and observation she will seek to 
prepare herself further along these lines. One missionary 
reports the habit, worthy of emulation, of keeping some reg- 
ular study always on hand. She writes: “A half hour’s 
work daily upon some subject in which one is deficient will 
make a wonderful difference, keeping the mind bright and 
adding materially to the equipment of a missionary. By a 
careful use of odd minutes this can be done during three 
quarters of the time.” 

While the caution most needed on the mission field is 
against overwork a missionary bishop of large experience 
adds a paragraph that deserves attention: 


“No one should be more insistent on an eight hour work-day 
than the missionary who has no one but God to call her to ac- 
count for the way she uses her time. Let her be sure she works 
creatively, exhaustively. She must never let her intellect grow 


38 


a PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


rusty. She has incomparable opportunities for hard, masterful 
thinking, and she ought always to have one solid book before 
her.” 


PREPARATION WHILE ON FURLOUGH 


Another committee has prepared a report on this impor- 
tant subject, so that it is not necessary to dwell upon it here. 
Many of the missionaries who contributed to the prepara- 
tion of this paper were spending their furloughs in this coun- 
try. They gave repeated testimony to the value of a period 
of study during the year of furlough. This furnishes an op- 
portunity to make up for deficiencies in earlier training as 
well as to pursue studies along the line of the work in which 
they are engaged. One missionary suggests the postpone- 
ment of all special preparation until the first furlough, when 
the worker will know exactly what she needs, but most of 
those who are taking up special studies during furlough ex- 
press regret that they were not able to have better prepara- 
tion before beginning their work. Another worker on her 
first furlough, unable to give time for a course at a Bible 
school, is taking a correspondence course in Old Testament 
history and finding it most profitable. 


CONCLUSION 


RELATED PAMPHLETS AND Reports, Other reports issued 
under the auspices of the Board of Missionary Preparation 
will supplement the material in this report. We would men- 
tion particularly the reports on ‘the Preparation of Medical 
and of Educational Missionaries and the reports on the 
preparation of missionaries appointed to various countries. 
These are listed on the inside back cover page and may be 
had separately or grouped in volumes. The leaflet on 
“Fundamental Qualifications” is obtainable from the Stu- 
dent Volunteer Movement. An account of the facilities in 
this country for the training of missionaries, printed in 1914, 
and a very valuable pamphlet on courses of reading for 


39 


PREPARATION OF WOMEN 


candidates will be found in the Third Annual Report, listed 
below. A series of reports for workers among the people 
brought up under various non-Christian religious environ- 
ments will be available, at least as regards Confucianists, 
Buddhists, Hindus and Mohammedans, during 1917. All 
these may be consulted with profit by young women contem- 
plating missionary service. Reports of Commission V of 
the Edinburgh Conference and of the Continuation Com- 
mittee Conferences in Asia set forth in detail the ideal 
standard for the preparation of missionaries and practical 
suggestions for realizing that ideal. 


THE Test oF Fitness. It is possible that some young 
women who have read these pages may feel like turning 
from them in despair, confused by the many lines of work . 
outlined, and feeling their insufficiency for this great work. 
One missionary reports that some Student Volunteers she 
had met were discouraged because the requirements seemed 
endless. We have been conscious of this danger in present- 
ing so many different phases of the work, but in closing, as 
at the beginning, we would remind our prospective workers, 
whose help in far greater numbers we are earnestly seeking, 
that we have had in mind many kinds of workers of different 
ages preparing for varied forms of service in many different 
countries calling for a large variety of ability. By applying 
to her Board the candidate throws upon its officers the 
responsibility for deciding upon her fitness. 

A more encouraging and far more important thought 
should stimulate the worker who feels that God has called 
her by the greatness of the need and of the opportunity, by 
the rich endowment He has bestowed upon her and by the 
sense of mission which has come to her in hours of true 
communion. It is the thought that He who has called her 
will perfect her for the work. May she be able to say, in 
the words of Campbell Morgan: “It is when I begin to do 
what I can’t do that I do it in the power of the Spirit.” 


49 


PUBLICATIONS OF THE BOARD 
The First Annual Report (1911) 


Of historical value, giving full details of the first year of organization. 
Paper, price 25 cents, postpaid. 


The First and Second Annual Reports (1911, 1912) 


A few copies bound in one volume. Valuable for completing sets. 
Paper, price 50 cents, postpaid. : 


The Third Annual Report (1913) 


Rich in suggestions concerning the special training which evangelistic, 
educational, medical, and women missionaries should seek. It also con- 
tains a report on the use of the missionary furlough, a list of the institu- 
tions which offer special courses for candidates, and suggestions of valu- 
able courses of reading. 

Paper, price 25 cents, postpaid. 


The Fourth Annual Report (1914) 


Containing reports on preparation for different fields, such as China, 
India, Japan, Latin America, the Near Hast and Pagan Africa. It also 
includes full reports of the two important Conferences on Preparation of 
Ordained Missionaries and Administrative Problems, 

Paper, price 50 cents, postpaid. 


The Fifth Annual Report (1915) 

Including the reports of the two important Conferences on Prepara- 
tion of Women for Foreign Service and Preparation of Medical Mission- 
aries, 

Paper, price 50 cents, postpaid, 


The Sixth Annual Report (1916) 


Containing, besides the report of the Annual Meeting, the full report 
of the important Conference on Educational Preparation. 
Paper, price 50 cents, postpaid. 


The Seventh Annual Report (1917) 


Containing the minutes and proceedings of the Annual Meeting. 
Paper, price 25 cents, postpaid. 


CONFERENCE REPORTS 
The Report of a Conference on the Preparation of Women for Foreign 
Missionary Service. Paper, 25 cents. 
The Report of a Conference on the Preparation of Medical Missionaries. 
Paper, 25 cents. 
The Report of a Conference on the Preparation of Ordained Missionaries, 
Paper, 25 cents. 


The Presentation of Christianity in Confucian Lands. Paper, 50 cents. 
The Presentation of Christianity to Hindus. Paper, 50 cents. 
The Presentation of Christianity to Moslems. Paper, 50 cents. 


REPRINTS OF SPECIAL REPORTS 
Preparation of Ordained Missionaries (revised). 10 cents. 
Preparation of Medical Missionaries (revised). 10 cents. 
Preparation of Educational Missionaries (revised). 10 cents. 
Preparation of Women for Foreign Service (revised). 10 cents. 
Preparation of Missionaries Appointed to China. 10 cents. 
Preparation of Missionaries Appointed to India. 10 cents. 
Preparation of Missionaries Appointed to Japan. 10 cents. 
Preparation of Missionaries Appointed to Latin America, 10 cents. 
Preparation of Missionaries Appointed to the Near East. 10 cents. 
Preparation of Missionaries Appointed to Pagan Africa. 10 cents. 


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